[B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS ENTWi CRISTWi
Dave Smith (REL110, 211,212)
rel21x at charter.net
Tue May 16 16:26:23 EDT 2006
Mr. Conrad's parallel of the whole context, vv. 3-14, to Homeric discourse
caught my attention. I would have thought that Ephesians in general, and vv.
3-14 in particular, had broken away from a Greek epistletory form altogether
and morphed a Hebrew/Semitic berekhah or blessing. This only happens three
times in the NT: Here (Ephesians 1:3ff), II Corinthians 1:3, and I Peter
1:3. In this case, I think the EIS TO EINAI references back to the first
instance of this construction in 1:6, EIS EPAINON DOXHS being identical in
both, and the terminology being similar in both, including PROORIZW (vv.
5,11), and followed by EN Wi (7, 13) preceded by a reference to Christ (EN
TWi HGAPHMENWi, v. 6; EN TWi CRISTWi, v.12). So instead of seeing loosely
attached clauses, I see a good possibility for Synonymous and/or Synthetic
parallelism, which might be expected in a Semitic literary form, such as a
blessing/berekhah. The form may also alert us to seeing the Hebrew
preposition bet (Be) in EN or EIS, with its connotations and usages.
Repetitions and parenthetical materials are plentiful in the whole passage,
giving us a further clue. Pondering a bit of Semitic influence upon this
Epistle could explain a few of its grammatical difficulties.
Dave Smith
Hudson, NC
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
To: <webb at selftest.net>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 14:33
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Eph. 1:12 EIS TO EINAI hHMAS ...TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS
ENTWi CRISTWi
>
> On May 16, 2006, at 1:51 PM, Webb wrote:
>
> > EIS TO EINAI hHMAS EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi
> > CRISTWi
> >
> > That way, our being the first to trust in Christ will be for the
> > honor of
> > God's glory.
> >
> > Is this a possible way of taking the relationship between the EINAI
> > and
> > PROHLPIKOTAS?
>
> Well, it's certainly a way of putting highly-contorted Greek into a
> highly-contorted English! Of course, the entire string of clauslets
> in the sequence Eph 1:3-14 is extraordinary and (I think)
> extraordinarily difficult in its articulation (or non-articulation).
> This string has always seemed to me somewhat like the LEXIS EIROMENH
> or "strung style" of Homeric discourse, wherein units loosely
> attached to each other like beads on a string contribute to a
> totality that is somehow intelligible. Here in the opening string of
> Ephesians, it's often seemed to me that we have something like
> loosely-strung subject-and-predicate clauslets that are half
> petitions and half catechetical elements such as we have heard
> formulated in an oral prayer where the speaker hasn't really given
> much thought in advance to where the sentence is supposed to end.
>
> It is unclear whether to initial EIS TO + inf. is meant to express
> purpose or result, as either would possibly relate to the ...
> PROORISQENTES KATA PROQESIN ... of the preceding clauslet. I suppose
> "that way" is intended to preserve the ambiguity -- as well as the
> fragile linkage of this clauslet to that preceding it.
>
> But -- the phrase EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is not so easily disposed
> of, I think. Your phrasing suggests that this phrase is the climax of
> the larger clause, and I'm not sure that it is; you also seem to
> suggest that hHMAS ... TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi is the
> subject of EINAI and EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is predicative with
> EINAI. I won't say that could NOT be the case (I don't know that one
> could positively rule out any of a variety of ways of construing the
> elements here), but I really think that here hHMAS is the subject of
> EINAI and TOUS PROHLPIKOTAS EN TWi CRISTWi is the predicate phrase --
> and that EIS EPAINON DOXHS AUTOU is an adverbial phrase that is
> commonly appended to catechetical or liturgical assertions about
> God's action, a sort of "Alleluia" or "Hallelujah" attendant upon
> each item in a list of God's mighty works.
>
> The upshot: if I were trying to reduce this verse to a single English
> sentence, I think I'd render it rather as "and so we have come to
> have hope in advance in Christ, praise be to His Glory!"
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>
>
> ---
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